March 14--Iowa Paralympian Matt Stutzman, who won silver at the London games in 2012, is focused on qualifying this summer for Rio and on winning another medal.
"There is a difference between being cocky and confident. If I do what I know I'm good at, and not let people rattle me, I know I can at least podiium," Stutzman, who was born without arms, said Tuesday at the United States Olympics Committee's media summit. "The competition is better than it was in 2012. ... People are gunning for me. They have told me that."
Last year, Stutzman set the world record for the longest accurate archery shot from more than 300 yards.
He grasps the bow with his foot and draws back the string with a hook on his shoulder and releases the arrow with his chin.
"I was blessed with the gift of aim," he said.
Stutzman was born in Kansas City in 1982. When he was four months old, Leon and Jean Stutzman adopted him and raised him on a farm in Kalona, Iowa.
He says he started hunting in 2009 with a bow to hunt food for his family "to fulfill my responsibilities as a man." The next year he decided to give competitive archery a try.
"All my life I wanted to be good at something."
He now lives with his wife and three sons in Fairfield, Iowa, which is about 50 miles west of the Illinois border.
"The support there has been awesome," he said.
